Professional?

An amateur is a person who engages in things, often unpaid.
A semi-professional receives some money but may not be specialised in the subject.
A professional is someone whose work is one that needs specialist training.

The difference between being an amateur and a professional is that it is a career, you do it for money. Commercial artists are typically employed by advertising agencies, newspapers, magazines, graphic design firms etc. 

Perceptions of being 'creative':
- slightly odd
- 'arty-farty'
- problem solvers
- suppliers

Clients:
Working for someone else throws up many more problems to be solved because everything in the creative industry is subjective so the work can be liked and disliked. The client may have a different opinion to you and sometimes you have to go against what you believe is right to earn money. 

All work that we do is open to personal taste and colour preferences. When working for a company or group of people, it is important to delegate one selected person to talk to the designer and help make the decisions so that things cannot be contradicted and confused. Cultural and ethnic acceptance will need to be taken into consideration as some brands could end up offending others. 

You could be your own client? Clients can be difficult. Or you can just learn to work with them.

Downsides:
- not being able to get work
- poor quality clients
- clients who don't listen to good advice
- communication problems/breakdowns
- poor negotiated outcomes
- not getting paid for your work

Mission Statement:

A short paragraph used by businesses to explain in simple and concise terns its purpose(s) for being. 

Manifesto:

A published verbal declaration of the intentions of a business

Think positively and get your system in place so that clients can understand and accept through your working 'manifesto'. A mission statement is a short paragraph used by a business to explain in simple and concise terms its purpose. This helps employees to stay focused and also allows the client to know what to expect from the company.